It is known that the quantity of water used in the preparation of mortar or concrete is always greater than that theoretically necessary to obtain proper hydration of the cement. However, excess water is necessary so that the fresh mortar or concrete is workable, that is, sufficiently capable of being worked and easy to shutter. At the same time, this excess water is disadvantageous because it leads to a decrease in mechanical strength characteristics, reduced homogeneity, bleeding, segregation and a certain delay in setting.
To reduce the quantity of water without harming the workability of mortars and concretes, it is known to incorporate therein wetting agents, generally known as "water-reducing plasticizers". Among the products used for this purpose are lignosulphonates, alkali metal salts of sulphonated styrenoindenic hydrocarbons, polyethoxylated alkylphenols, melamine/formaldehyde, naphthalensulphonic acid/formaldehyde or melamine/phenol/formaldehyde polycondensates, various water-soluble homopolymers or copolymers, and organosiloxanes. Applicant has discovered an agent which overcomes the disadvantages mentioned above.